British Columbia’s government must do more for young people at risk of
suicide other than provide them with warm beds in the homes of well-meaning but
overwhelmed foster parents, says a report released by the province’s independent
children’s representative.

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond said on Thursday the government is spending too much
time shuffling suicidal young people from foster home to foster home rather than
trying to understand their traumatic lives and offering them the care they
need.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark has unveiled a website and app to make reporting bullying easier. Clark says lessons need to be learned from the death of Amanda Todd, the teen who committed suicide after years of cyber-bullying.

video

Her 61-page report, “Trauma, Turmoil and Tragedy: understanding the needs of
children and youth at risk of suicide and self-harm,” recommends the Children
and Family Development Ministry build stability in the lives of these young
people through strategies that limit the number of disruptions they experience
in government care.

“We’ve got to calm the system down,” Ms. Turpel-Lafond said in an interview.
“The ministry is going to have to show much better service to some of these most
vulnerable kids.”

Ms. Turpel-Lafond’s report examined the lives of 15 young people who
committed suicide and another 74 who inflicted injuries on themselves.

Of the 89 cases reviewed, 58 of the youths were in the care of the children’s
ministry at the time of their suicide or attempted suicide.

Ms. Turpel-Lafond’s report said those 58 youth were moved 776 times while in
government care, and five of the young people were moved more than 30 times
each.

“The idea that you can have a room in your house and have a foster child
living with you where you get up and go to work and they get up and go to school
just like the other child in the next bedroom, and you get paid a quantum a
month to take care of the child and give them food and shelter is not going to
work for these kids,” she said.

Her report said that the daily challenges in the lives of the vulnerable
youth are foreign to most British Columbians. It stated the repeated heartbreak
the youth have dealt with requires a compassionate response and supportive and
effective services.

But even though most of the youth have a lengthy history of troubling
behaviour and an overall lack of safety and stability in their lives, few
attempts were made to address the adverse and persistent factors affecting their
lives, the report said.

The report highlights a case study of an aboriginal male who hanged
himself.

It stated the youth lived in a home where his parents struggled with
substance abuse and domestic violence was an issue. There were concerns the
youth might have been sexually abused by a relative.

The report said the youth was removed from the family home seven times by
government officials and involved in 19 child protection reports. It said the
boy always ended up being returned to his home, and after his death, a
children’s ministry report did not assess or recognize the emotional impact the
turmoil in the boy’s home may played in his life.

“These kids, it’s just absolutely tragic,” Ms. Turpel-Lafond said. “They turn
to drugs and alcohol because they are not getting therapeutic support. When they
do turn to drugs and alcohol that compounds, often, their mental health
challenges and they get more depressed. They get sexually assaulted. They’re
overdosing.”

Of the 15 who committed suicide, nine were female, six were male. Of the nine
females, six were aboriginal, of the six males, two were aboriginal.

Children’s Minister Stephanie Cadieux said the government accepts Ms.
Turpel-Lafond’s recommendation to provide more stability in the lives of young
people at risk of suicide.

She said a ministry action plan, which has been under development for the
past two years, will be instituted in the new year. Ms. Cadieux said the plan
includes offering more professional care for suicidal youth and better training
for foster parents.

She said the plan aims to prevent multiple transfers of youth in the foster
homes, with an alert triggered if a young person is moved three times within the
same year.

“We’re putting a very strong focus on creating more stability and permanency
and, as recommended by the representative, we’re implementing a process to
review and take action on any child in care that’s moving more than three times
in a 12-month period,” Ms. Cadieux said.

Ms. Turpel-Lafond’s report said the government’s youth suicide plan must
include thorough assessments of children when they are taken into care and
include plans for services to help them recover from that trauma.